The challenge is competing with the ubiquitous junk messages to acheive meaningful engagement to change behaviour.
We use many different techniques and media to communicate to people and sometimes it comes down to the basic face to face persuasion and blatent bribary!
As part of the Recycling roll out 2008 and the Switch Off2010 campaign we have carried out clinics and workshops as a form of awareness raising and communications. However the problem we face is that we always attract the people who are already ‘on board’ and are already acting sustainably on campus.
A typical person who is onboard will recycle all they can and switch off all they can!
How do you attract those who are not interested? You incentivise them with goodies or trinkets- or a bribe if you like.
How do you ensure the transaction is meaningful and not just grab and go? The act of giving away something of value can create an opportunity for a bit of face to face rapport building. However, more often than not people snatch what they want and scarper – so any giveaway should be branded with a logo to act as a retrieval cue.
The give aways should be valueable and useful so that they are desired AND attract people AND get used in their normal working life.
Tat or “low quality useless cheap nasty product” is not good for anybody, so there will be no stress balls, yo yo’s or whistles at any of our workshops!
This type of promotional item are a waste of valuable resources and especially in these times of austerity they give out the wrong message on all counts.
Over the years I have tried lots of different incentives- from boring but useful key rings to some items that are quite useful. I once branded 10,000 veggie peelers in a home composting project. There are also a few ‘out there’ ideas which never made it to the purchase order – such as the whoopee cushion to publicise student green house gas emissions. (An idea i would still like to go ahead with but need some open minded partners to share costs! Get in touch please.)
The king of incentives is food. As part switch off 2010 we actually provide a free buffet lunch as part of the communications mix. The good thing about food is you can actually stand and engage properly. As people eat you can tell them all about your messages. And while you have a nibble they talk about their issues. Great two way rapport building.
The important thing about incentives is that they have to bring value to a person’s life. If they are poor quality or useless then they bring a negative association to your brand/campaign. And of course always specify for recycled content.